בֵּית לֶ֫חֶם

From the study of Judges 17:8

Range of meaning

'House of bread/food', a village about 9 km south of Jerusalem in Judah's hill country. 'Of Judah' distinguishes it from Bethlehem in Zebulun.

Against the English

KJV fuses it into one name, 'Beth-lehem-judah'. Modern versions write 'Bethlehem in Judah'. The meaning is the same.

How it drifted

Christian readers tend to hear 'Bethlehem' as the town of David and Jesus. In Judges it is simply a small Judahite village with no royal associations yet.

Used elsewhere in the period

The full form 'Bethlehem of Judah' comes in Judg 17:7, 8, 9; 19:1, 2, 18; Ruth 1:1–2. Bethlehem is not listed among the Levitical towns of Joshua 21.

From the study of Ruth 1:1

Range of meaning

A place name, Bethlehem, a small town in the Judean hills about 9 km (5½ miles) south of Jerusalem, also called Ephrathah (Genesis 35:19; Micah 5:2). Its parts are beit, "house," and lechem, "bread, food."

Against the English

English readers see only a place name. YLT and KJV keep the hyphen ("Beth-lehem"), but no common English version shows the meaning "House of Bread."

How it drifted

A meaningful Hebrew name has become a sound. The famine-in-House-of-Bread irony disappears in English.

Used elsewhere in the period

The town appears in the Amarna letters (14th century BC) as Bīt-Lahmi in the region of Jerusalem. Some scholars think the name first referred to a deity (Lahmu or Lahamu) and not to bread. Whatever its origin, Iron Age Hebrew speakers heard "house of bread." It is also the home of figures in the dark last stories of Judges (Judges 17:7–9; 19:1–2).

From the study of Genesis 35:19

Range of meaning

A town in the hill country of Judah, about 9 km (6 miles) south of Jerusalem. There was also a Bethlehem in Zebulun (Josh 19:15). In Hebrew the name means "house of bread/food".

Against the English

English keeps the name and does not translate it, so the meaning "house of bread" is invisible to English readers but obvious to Hebrew ones.

Used elsewhere in the period

Lechem is the everyday word for bread and for food in general (e.g., Gen 3:19). Some scholars suggest the name originally meant "house (temple) of Lahmu/Lahamu", a deity known from Mesopotamian sources. That idea is a hypothesis, not established. A town near Jerusalem named in an Amarna letter (EA 290, 14th century BC) has sometimes been identified with Bethlehem, but how that text should be read is disputed. In Arabic the name (Bayt Laḥm) sounds like "house of meat".